Skirmishes on the border of Armenia and Azerbaijan

1 Armenia — Azerbaijan

Military clashes broke out once again on the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan. This time there were battles in the Tavush region. The Armenian Defense Ministry reported that the Azerbaijani forces fired at the positions of the Armenians in the Tavush region, tonight. By morning the situation had stabilized. There were no casualties. The ’Sputnik-Azerbaijan’ news agency reported that the Armenian forces fired at the positions of the Azerbaijani forces near the village of Kokhanebi, in the Tovuz region.

2 Donbass

The Ukrainian troops resumed the shelling of the DPR territory this morning. The settlement of the Trudovskaya mine in the west of Donetsk came under fire — the DPR representative office in the Joint Center for Control and Coordination of the Ceasefire reported. “At 10:07, the Ukrainian forces opened fire from the Kiev-controlled town of Maryinka at the village of Trudovskaya mine. The enemy fired nine 82mm mortar shells» — the DPR representatives specified.

3 Tajikistan

The servicemen of the member-states of the Collective Security Treaty Organization continue the training of the interaction in combat conditions. The trainings of the special forces from the Collective Rapid Reaction Force, code named «Cobalt-2021», are taking place in Tajikistan. They are carried out in two stages. Firstly, the tasks of forming an operational joint HQ and coordination of its work were worked out. Then, on the ground, the special forces performed their training missions, formed by the HQ, to destroy the training enemy in the border zone. The training was attended by the Russian servicemen from the 201st base, permanently deployed in Tajikistan.

4 Ukraine

The Ukrainian parliament have approved, during a second reading, a draft law that allows the border troops to use weapons to prevent conflicts and provocations from the outside, the UNN reported. They can also use the existing arsenal to free hostages, and destroy enemy UAVs, used for military and spy purposes. The enhancement of the border troops was needed for Kiev, during the current situation on the Belarusian-Polish border. The Ukrainian authorities fear that the illegal immigrants may try to penetrate into Europe via Ukrainian cordons, thus bypassing the Polish barriers.

5 The South China Sea

3 Chinese Coast Guard units have blocked and used water cannons against 2 Philippine Navy supply ships in the South China Sea — the Philippine Foreign Ministry reported. The Philippines and the USA are bound by the Mutual Defense Treaty. Manila condemned the Chinese actions «in the strongest terms». The Filipino ships sailed with ammo for the servicemen on the 2nd Philippine-occupied Thomas Shoal Atoll, which China considers an occupied territory. According to the Foreign Minister Teodoro Locsin, no-one was injured during the incident. The Filipino ships had to abandon their mission.

6 Russia

Strategic NATO bombers fly at a distance of 20 kilometers from the Russian borders, going beyond the limits of the permissible — Vladimir Putin stated. ’’Moscow understands that their partners are «very peculiar», and they treat all warnings «very superficially» — Putin added. In November, Putin drew the attention of German Chancellor Angela Merkel to the destabilizing and dangerous nature of the provocative activities of the USA and some NATO countries in the Black Sea. The Russian Ministry of Defense also mentioned the increase in the military activity in the region — the RIA NEWS reported. Constantine Reztsov, specially for the ANNA NEWS